Improvement in portable apparatus for preserving wood



UNITED STATES PATENT wrLLiAM TILDEN Penton, oF NEW YORK, N. Y.

vSpecication forming part of Let-tere Patent No. 113,338, dated April 4,187i..

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAMTILDEN PEL- TON, of the State, county, andcity'ot New York, have made an invention, of which the following is afull description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing and tothe` letters of.reference marked thereon.

My invent-ion consists of au apparatus and arrangement of machinerywhereby railroad ties, timber, and other wood and suitable substancesmay be seasoned and impregnated with preservative elements, whether of hydro earbtms, oleaginous, saline, or other materials, in such mannerthat said substances shall be etectually and economicallytreated, and,by the employment of said appaiatns--the same bein g movable to thedesired point-:treating of wood at distant and separate points' alongtheline ofrailroads shall be possible andprolitable.

1t would be impossible to establish a fixed treating apparatus at everyp oint where railroad ties, posts, timber, 'or other substances are tobe'fouud suitable for creosotin g along the lines of railroads; ,and itmight be diticult to nd localities that so abound in the desiredmaterial in such supply, and alsothat furnish such a market as tojustify the outlay necessary to erect a treatingapparatus for that1oeality. Itis 'generally true that the supply of y proper timber isquite limited at any given point, and so, also, the demand for thetreated article 5 and that the timber has to be gathered from diii'erentpoints at great distances and distributed again, at great cost ofhandling and transportation. The employment of my invention requires butoutlay suiiicient to build one apparatus, 'and enables the operator totreat ties, posts, and-timber at any and every point where a railroadbranch or track extends without any previous handling or transportationof thewood and each owner of timber is able to have it treated with thesame economyl as though he hada separate treating apparatus constructedupon his own premises. The handling alone of a car-load of ties inloading and unloading them to take ,them to different pointsfortreatment and return amounts to an additional cost per tie more thansufiicieut to be decisive as to the utility of using or dispensing witha ereosoting process.

My apparatus particularly adapted for the employment and practicalapplication of the Seely process, referred toin Letters Patent Nol69,260, granted lSeptember 24, 1867, to Charles Seely, under which Ibecame assignee, and where wood is seasoned or impregnated withliquidsas the seasoning orimpregnating materia-l, and where it isdesired to trst apply them heated to 'the wood,in a manner to expel thesap andother contents of the pores of the wood; and, if impregnation isdesired, then `to produce a vaeuumtherein by bringing in contact with'the wood impregnating material of a lower degree of temperature, whichat the same time supplies itself to till the pores ofthe wood withoutexposure to the air. Yet said apparatus can be employed whatever'theheatin g or treating material used, and whether the desired treatment beby a cold bath or a hot bath; or by alternate baths of hot and cold; orby baths gradually changing from hot to cold; or whether exposure4 tothe air is desirable at any stage of the process or otherwise; and thecars described can be used separately or together.` rlhe same is truethat can be propelled or drawn npon a railroad track or other roadway asa portable machine, specially useful for treating railroad and otherties, posts, and timber upon the lines of railroad, I have invented anew and useful apparatus, delineated in the accompanying drawing, asfollows:

Figure lis a plan of the said apparatus and its various parts andadjuncts, and Fig. 2 is a side elevation ofthe Sallie.

'1 represents, when D is shut down, aclosed chamber or tank, in whichthe wood or other f substance is treated. The most desirable form I findto be that of a parallelopipedon, about twenty-live feet long, eightfeet wide, and six feet high, and the best material light boileriron. R1R2 are closed tanks, communicating with each other and with T by meansof `the pipe a a at the side, and constructed above' FFIcE.-

aiidhelow T t'or the-purpose of containing thel aboutv one foot indiameter. S represents a frame and pulley, by means ot4 which to raise1). D' isadoor swinging npoii its upper edge, 1 andforlosing Tlierinetically tight. t is al truck, upon which the substance to hetreatedl is piled, and running npoii m mL-wliich is anliiicliiied trackpassing into T, and 'descending into a continuation ot' man. Gr are .thetrucks j or running-gear'supportiu g the treating apparatus. g is afunnel or opening to the pipe u,

through which the-'treating' material is poured into R2. E is an engine,supplied with steam from the boiler B, which may be located, asdescribed, on u, a platform-car, or may be the boiler ot' a locomotiveiii front. P is a force .puinp, operated by/E, pumping the treating'materiali'i'oni R2 through the lpipej', aiidi'orc Vingitiinto Itlthrough the pipe g. @Lis the dem@supplyingsteani to E bymeans et' I, and.f alsoI 'supplying steam to heating-coils p p p ,in

the bot-toni,otT'tlirough the 'pipe djii.- .H is a drum, worked hy E,over which passes r, whichv iis arope attached to one and the other endot' t, as itfhasv to he drawn in or out of T. To draw t out ot'T sheaveshave to be arranged at confve'nient. points to lead i' around to theopen vt'iiidof T. ccc sa pipe, with arms descend-l ing 'into' the topoteach dome, making a. con- Ynection between them, and also with O,which isaiifordiiiary condenser with a coilot'cooling- 'pipes in thebottom. (See also Fig. 4.) bb is "an overtlow-pipe tol T, andconnect-ing two -treating tanlts, T and T, throughl 'the .rear

jdoines, on a plane lower than that of ccc, and

I lower, also, than a1 a emerges from R131. oo i 'of o' are pipesconnecting It* with R1 and;V R2

withv R2 on different treating-cars, when used .f

in "conjunction, as it is quitedesirable to do. In order to have aslarge a reserve of cold treat-ing' material-as possible to be containedon cars in proportion to their'capacity to con-- tain Wood to betreated, and with'two treatingcars, you can alternately lill and-'emptyT and T, and empty the treating material iu the tanks connected by o o ool as though in two common reservoirs, R1 and'RZ, of double-the actualsize.-

' Besides' the hot bath, the cold bath, the drawing olif the liquids, orthe removal of the wood., or other steps in the process-of treatment,

' would occur in the case ofthe combination of two or more treating-carsat dii-ferent instants oftime, with reference to the diierent cars andthe same stage of the process, so that in a com -binatiou oftreating-cars every step of the process could be observed, transportingsimultaneously in diliereiit chambers, and with a minY iinum of treatingmaterial and of labor, fuel,

time, and expense. i

Fig. No. 3 isa cross-section through two treating-cars, in plane .c w,showing the treatingchambers T T, with truckstt Within, on the track mm', and theI steam-pipes for heating p p p p underneath; also, the tankRl R1A above,

and R2 R2 below, and the piped a with stopcocks 4, 2, and 5 connectingthe several tanks on each car; also, the domes DD and the overow-pipe bwith flexible `joint and stop-cock 1;

` also, the connecting-pipes o o o" o,.with iexible Fig. No. 4-isfacross-section' ot the saine v through the plane z z, sliowingthecondenser @,the domes DjlD.' connected from their tops by the pipe c c,with a exiblejoiiit anda IT passing into C; also, showingthe endsot'tlie treating-cham bers T T, the4 running-gear' G G,

and the steam-piped dwith flexible joints.

The niannei'fiii .which the apparatus descri bed a is employed. inusiugthe'Steely-.process is as' follows The'truck t, together with theinclined track m mi, having been placedl within T, and D closed down,and., theifariouscnrs attached to each other aiidtogf-fth'e! `-u'intivepower, "t he train or cars are moved tu4 point where the wood-jsfreqiiiredftobetr 1 There-D is raised, mtgn/ is adjusted to A1 and to mm.; the 'wood vis piled-uponltf'ris'fattached; steam from lBjs appliedto E to'tu-rii'H' iin-til tis within' T.' Th'en .D Vis loweredfanilfastened liermetically hy bolts or slots, or, asthecaseinay be, R1having been vtilled by the heating material pumped .from R2 through/fandg by means ofrP, the material in R2 having been poured in at 'g throughn, another treating-car being joined by o o and o o. Then, 5 beingclosed, 4 and 2 .are opened inthe ii'rst until Tis tull or the woodamplysubmerged, and -2 is closed. Then steam from Lis let' intoipp p throughd,

heat is obtained sufficient to driiethe sap out of the wood, and then.vthe steaniis letout ot' p p p and 7 is shut. 2 is' a-gaiiiopened, R! andR2haviiigbeen reiil1ed, as\ before, and the seeond treatin g-ca'r,having beenlled with'wood to be treated and tightly closed, 1 is opened,whereupon .the heated materialrises upon the top of the colder materialenteriing; at 2, and

passes'over through b'b upon the wood' in po sitiou in the secondtreating-car. This is continued till the second T is lled withthe-heat'- ing' materiall and thecold material is substitilted in theirst T. lIfiinpregnation is desired, then 1 is closed; and-S opened, andsteam supplied to-pp p vin the second T, and theheating process goesoittherein while the cold bath is' being applied in the first T. Thegases and other volatile lproducts passing through c c c -into thecondenser C, 3 and 6 being alternately open and shut to secure that end,this art rangement preventing' the danger that would exist of explosionifa covered tank were used for a treating-chamber Withoutthe apparatusdescribed, and preventing also the oii'ensive nuisance and waste oi'material that wouldenesca-pe as from an open vat.

' 1n g taken up into its pores a sufcient amount of the impregnatingmaterial in the first chamsue it' the volatile products were allowed toThe Wood havber, and the wood in the second chamber havingbeensuiiciently heated,4 is shut and 5 is opened in the first treating-car, and the treating material in T passesinto R2. Then Dl is raised;r is run around sheaves to the front of TA attached to t, which isstarted out-,if necessary,

by proper motion heilig applied to' H. Other timber to be heated is runinto T, which is closed when 1 is opened, and in the second car 5 isshut and 2 'and et are opened, Whereupon the hot materia-l passes overthrough b b upon; the woodin the first ear, and so on alternate y.

It is evident that there is a great saving ot' time, of labor, ot'material, and expense where there is a combination ot' two or moretreatin gcars operated by the same force of men and steam.

What I claim as al new andus'eful invention, and petition herein to haveprotected by Letters Patent, is-

1. The whole combination of machinery and parts consti tilting theapparatus, as herein subv stantially described, andy for the purpses setforth.

2. The combination ot" a treatin g' apparatus, for seasoninporpreserving.,r wood, with a. truck or trucks or other runningg'ear, so asto be capable ot' being propelled or drawn on a rail. road or othertrack or roadway.

3. Theeombjnation, with a treatin gapparatus, of an engine, E, placedupon a truck or runni 11g-gear, substantially as described, for thepurposes set forth.

4. The combination of receiving and l charge tanks R1 R2 with atreating-chaml T, connected and used as a wood-treating paratus, and atthe same time construe with running-gear and as a separa-te and ,ciplete vehicle, substantially as described, z for the purposes set forth.

5. The combinationof the pieces of macl ery included in the last twoclaims.

6. The combination of two er more treati cars, substantially asdescribed, and for purposes set forth.

7. The construction of a treating appara for seasonin',f. or preservingwood in suc way that it shall be divisible into several ci plete`vehicles adapted to an ordinary railr( track, so as to be conveyedseparately a train or part ot'a train of ears dra-wn by a comoti\'e,either'together or separately, fr

the wood treated or to be treated.

S. The combination of a wood-preservin e; paratus with wheels, thatshall be adapte( bemovable upon and used in connection the with, andwith the ordinary railroad track, e betransportable at will from pointto point on said track or branches, to reach and tr ties, posts, andother timber, without the i ticulty or expense ot' removingit fromdistan to a fixed and immovable apparatus, and employment for suchpurposes, substantie as described.

Witnesses:A W. T. PELTON H.'BRODHEAD, y

VV. VARREN.

